Music
Welcome to the Paul Laurence Dunbar Music Archive
Paul Laurence Dunbar was the first African-American poet to garner national critical acclaim. A Dayton native, Dunbar penned a large body of dialect poems, standard English poems, essays, novels and short stories before his death at the age of 33. His work often addressed the difficulties encountered by members of his race and the efforts of African-Americans to achieve equality in America. He was praised both by the prominent literary critics of his time and his literary contemporaries.
In the Department of Music at the University of Dayton, our goal is to showcase and preserve Dunbar's literary career by giving public access to the myriad of ways his work has been presented, particularly in the musical arena.
Paul Laurence Dunbar: His life, his legacy.
Paul Laurence Dunbar was the first African-American poet to garner national critical acclaim. Born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1872, Dunbar penned a large body of dialect poems, standard English poems, essays, novels and short stories before he died at the age of 33. His work often addressed the difficulties encountered by members of his race and the efforts of African-Americans to achieve equality in America. He was praised both by the prominent literary critics of his time and his literary contemporaries.
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Department of Music
University of Dayton
Raymond L. Fitz Hall, Room 470
300 College Park
Dayton, OH 45469-2946